We have had crueler months than April 2013, but this one singed the soul.

Weather-wise, weird prevailed. Last week temperatures in our area hovered around 42 degrees even as spring reached the one-month mark. The chill reflected the national mood as we continued to process the horrors of 4/15, when two young men set off bombs at the Boston Marathon. The attacks on Patriots’ Day shattered the lives and limbs of dozens of people and etched yet another dark day on our national calendar.

Turning the page to a new month is an artificial demarcation, at best, but it does feel really good to welcome May. Gods and nature and people willing, May promises to bring some warmth and sunshine back into our lives.

It’s hard to find folks who don’t appreciate May — and not just for the weather. It is a month of honoraria and celebrations, memorials and tributes. For starters, May is National Barbecue Month, which I personally plan to mark by asking my husband to clean the grill. Then we will launch the season with a seafood kebob fest. No marching bands, no parades, no speeches. Just food.

It’s also Older Americans Month, one of those clubs in which membership is compulsory and the dues are onerous. May is National Recommitment Month, which reminds me to recommit to my Mediterranean diet, which, coincidentally, is also celebrated this month and certainly conflicts with May 15, National Chocolate Chip Day.

May is Date Your Mate Month. Now this is notable, at least by me, as something we can learn from our grown children. My kids accommodate their ridiculously busy weeks by having Date Night once a week, on which they set aside time for themselves. They go to the movies, enjoy a quiet dinner, talk over family issues or even fight, if they haven’t had time to exercise the what-were-you-thinking muscle.

May is also National Strawberry Month. When they’re good, they’re very, very good, and, well, you know the rest. Great strawberries are a culinary wonder, straight up, on ice cream or cereal or in salads. By the way, May is also National Salad Month. (Think daikon and arugula, not your grandmother’s salad.)